Means for stripping blood-lines

Abstract

A powered hand-held device (200) for use in stripping blood-lines is disclosed comprising a body (202) housing a battery (206) in a handle portion (204) thereof and housing a first motor (210) in a head portion (208) thereof. A pair of rollers extends from the head at an angle to the handle and is drivingly connected to the motor (210) by a drive mechanism (212). One of the rollers (220) is an idler and is mounted on a support member (222) adapted for lateral movement in the head (208) so that it can be moved toward and away from the other roller (not shown). Support member (222) is driven by an actuator including a second motor (214) that rotates a gear (218) which engages a toothed rack (226) on support member (222).

Description

[0001] This invention relates to devices and methods for use in stripping blood-lines that are connected to blood packs.[0002] Accepted procedures for collection of blood from donors involve inserting a needle into the donor's vein and delivering blood into a blood collection bag via a tube that is commonly called the `blood-line`. The bag normally contains an anticoagulant and / or a blood preservative solution. After the desired amount of blood has been collected (usually a `unit` of 500 ml), the blood-line is sealed near the needle and the line is cut on the needle side of the seal so that the needle can be safely discarded. Normally the needle will be contained within a guard so as to avoid the danger of needle-stick injury. The blood-line can be sealed by knotting, by heat-sealing or by crimping. Crimping the blood-line to seal it from the needle is normally effected by bending the line double, placing a metal (or plastic) ring or clip over the doubled line and using a device lik...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007] Conveniently, the axes of the rollers are parallel and juxtaposed and arranged at an angle to the handle of device and, also conveniently, one or both rollers are waisted so that the center is of a smaller diameter than the ends to assist in keeping the blood-line between the rollers when the device is in operation. Angles of between 20 and 60 degrees between the roller axes and the handle are envisaged, but an angle of between 40 and 50 degrees has been found to be most convenient. It is also desirable that the roller drive means be reversible so that the device can be driven in either direction along the blood-line being stripped.

[0009] Though it will be usual to employ one pair of rollers, one being driven and one idling, more than two rollers may be used and more than one may be driven. For example, two driven rollers and / or a set of three rollers can assist in moving the device along a blood-line with minimal slippage or misalignment.

Problems solved by technology

Since a phlebotomist in a busy collection center can collect blood from 20-30 donors in one day the burden of stripping the blood-lines is considerable and can easily result in repetition strain injury [RSI] or carpel tunnel syndrome.

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